Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to apparatus, systems, and methods for controlling features of small cells.
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks. High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) is a data service offered on the uplink of UMTS networks.
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). LTE is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA on the downlink (DL), SC-FDMA on the uplink (UL), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in LTE technology. These improvements may be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.
In heterogeneous cellular wireless systems including base stations of widely varying power, base stations may be broadly categorized as “macro” cells or small cells. Femto cells and pico cells are examples of small cells. As used herein, a small cell means a cell characterized by having a transmit power substantially less than each macro cell in the network with the small cell, for example low-power access nodes such as defined in 3GPP Technical Report (T.R.) 36.932 V12.1.0, Section 4 (“Introduction”).
Small cells may be deployed in an ad hoc manner, but are generally not portable. That is, the location where a small cell is initialized generally remains the same or static for long periods of time. Portable access terminals may be used as relay devices, but a relay device does not provide the full functionality of a small cell. Increasingly, however, access terminals are configured with wireless hardware that may enhance their suitability for operating as small cells, while also retaining functionality for other uses, for example as a wireless access terminal, computer terminal, stand-alone computer, home entertainment appliance, or portable server. It may be desirable, therefore, to extend small cell functionality to new configurations, devices and equipment, and to provide news methods for controlling operation of small cells in such new configurations or equipment.